Super Typhoon Matmo
Super Typhoon Matmo, otherwise referred too as Super Typhoon Perla in the Philippine basin, was a record-breaking super typhoon that became the strongest cyclone ever recorded, garnering both the strongest cyclonic winds and the lowest pressure ever recorded on planet earth with a 848 mbar reading, and 225 mph estimated winds. The storm became the second costliest typhoon on record, just behind Mireille of 1991, and became the most devastating storm in Taiwanese history. Meterological History Early on October 9, the JMA and the JTWC began monitoring a tropical disturbance located in the open ocean. Over the next 24, the disturbance underwent gradual organization and was designated as Tropical Storm Matmo early on October 10. Initially, the storm struggled to intensify due to very high wind shear, and remained a minimal tropical storm before making a southwesterly curve on October 11. Later that same day, Matmo had weakened into a depression and hooked northwards around 12 hours after weakening on October 12. Matmo became a tropical storm again on October 12 and began to intensify as it turned northwestwards the next day due to more favorable surface conditions and increasing ocean temperatures. By late on October 14, Matmo had intensified into a typhoon several hundred miles southeast of the Northern Mariana Islands. Thanks to very favorable conditions and an anti-cyclone forming over the storm, Matmo began to rapidly intensify, and became a category 4 typhoon just 12 hours after reaching typhoon status. Typhoon warnings were issued for the southern-most Mariana Islands on October 14. Early on October 15, Matmo crossed through the Northern Mariana Islands as a category 4 typhoon, bringing strong winds and heavy rainfall to the majority of the islands. After bearing down on the islands, Matmo weakened slightly due to land interaction, and was downgraded to a category 3 typhoon on October 15. Late on October 16, Matmo began to intensify again, attaining category 4 status later that day. Early on October 17, Matmo was upgraded to a super typhoon and a category 5 storm with estimated winds of 165 mph and a pressure of around 920 mbar. Over the next 48 hours, Matmo would continue to gradually maintain its low-end category 5 status, however, starting late on October 19, Matmo began to rapidly intensify again due to non-existent wind shear and an influx of moisture in the atmosphere. On October 20, Matmo had shattered record books when it reached a peak intensity with winds of 225 mph and a pressure estimated at 850 mbar at the time, this made the storm stronger than Typhoon Tip, which was previously the strongest recorded cyclone. Typhoon Warnings were issued for the entire territory of Taiwan along with other surrounding areas including the Ryukyu Islands, as the storm had gale-force winds span over 800 miles from the center. Matmo continued to maintain its intensity while slightly weakening over the next 36 hours, with tropical storm-force winds being felt in mainland Taiwan as early as the afternoon of October 20. At 21:00 UTC on October 21, Typhoon Matmo made a historic landfall in Taiwan, becoming the strongest landfall ever recorded in the country, making landfall with winds of 205 mph, and a pressure of 867 millibars, which also made it the strongest cyclone landfall in recorded world history. After moving through Taiwan and delivering extreme winds and rainfall, Matmo drastically weakened down to a high-end category 4 typhoon early on October 22. Due to the sea-surface temperatures remaining very warm, Matmo re-intensified into a category 5 typhoon 6 hours later. At 13:00 UTC on October 22, Matmo made its second landfall in Mainland China with winds of 140 mph. The storm began to rapidly weaken as it moved inland, dumping large amounts of rain across mainland China, and bringing hurricane-force winds to cities like Shanghai, dumping up to 18 inches of rain there alone. Roughly 24 hours after making landfall, Matmo weakened back down to a tropical storm, but still remained huge in size, with tropical-storm force winds being felt as far north as South Korea. The storm then began to accelerate to the northeast starting on October 23, and began to re-intensify. Later on October 24, Matmo made its final landfall on Kumamoto in Japan as a low-end typhoon. Due to only being over land for only 12 hours, only steady weakening occurred as the system began to undergo an extratropical transition after entering the Sea of Japan on October 25. By the middle of October 25, Matmo had become a strong extratropical cyclone that continued tracking through the Sea of Japan. Eventually, the remnants of the system moved into southeastern Russia, bringing gale-force winds to large swaths of land, and dumped considerable amounts of rainfall across the area. WIP Preparations 'Mariana Islands' 'Taiwan' Due to the shear size and intensity of the storm, all citizens of Taiwan were ordered to evacuate from the storm. A total of 10.3 million people evacuated, making this the biggest evacuation for any tropical cyclone. Due to the nature of this storm, Taiwan had to issue a special warning nationwide to alert anyone in the country of the at the time impending storm. Up to 30" of rain were forecast to fall in certain locations of the country, because of this, officials set up sandbags long the coastline to prevent major flooding. Over 6,000 people were killed in Taiwan, mostly due to a lack of preparations among parts of the country, as officials underestimated the intensity of the storm at landfall. 'Mainland China' After having made landfall in Taiwan, Matmo still posed a huge threat to the mainland area in which landfall was anticipated in. About 300,000 people in mainland China evacuated from the storm. Matmo made landfall as a strong category 4, causing unprecedented damages in the region in which it hit. 'Japan' Impact & Aftermath Retirement In 2020, during the 52nd annual session of the ESCAP/WMO Typhoon Committee in March, the name Matmo was officially retired, and was replaced with Shimada in 2021. Category:Super Typhoons Category:Category 5 typhoons Category:Destructive storms Category:Stronger than Typhoon Tip Category:Typhoons